Inside The Art Of Waterfowl Taxidermy

We sit down with Georgia taxidermist Seth Farmer to unpack the craft behind lifelike waterfowl mounts, from field care and skin prep to eyes, materials, and creative showpieces. Along the way we talk hybrids, realistic timelines, budget options, and how mounts can preserve a final hunt with a dog.

• why field care after the shot sets the mount’s ceiling
• how to package birds for freezing and avoid freezer burn
• intake decisions that shape pose and salvage damage
• skinning, fleshing, washing, tumbling, and drying steps
• species differences between divers and puddle ducks
• why eyes and quality materials transform realism
• timelines, expedite options, and honest workload math
• hybrids, rare birds, and identification tells
• competition mounts and building convincing habitats
• budget alternatives like feather art and partial work
• cooking notes from specs to carnitas for goose
• mentors, schooling, and continuous improvement

Find Seth at Nature’s Woods Taxidermy on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and natureswoodstaxidermy.com. Located in Dublin, Georgia.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_05 0:17

What's going on, guys? Tristan and Tony back with another episode of the One Hove Life Outdoor Podcast. Got Tony uh back beside me this week, and we're back in the studio. Last week was a little bit of an improv. Tony was out smashing snow geese.

SPEAKER_04 0:30

I didn't have a problem with it.

SPEAKER_05 0:31

Yeah, yep. And uh today we got Seth Farmer, uh owner of Nature Woods uh taxidermy. He's also a fellow Georgia guy and um just has some awesome work. I came across this stuff on social media, just kind of looking for uh taxidermist that's closer to um closer to us up here. We had a great guy down in Florida, uh Mallard's Fowl Life, but obviously it's just a far, far drive to get all the way down to Florida. So uh connected with Seth and looking forward to be take uh to taking some ducks to him this year. But uh wanted to have him on just to learn about uh what it's like being a taxidermist and the ins and outs of the incredible stuff they do. So, Seth, thank you for taking the time to come on tonight, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Yes, sir, yes, sir. I appreciate you having me on.

SPEAKER_05 1:13

Absolutely, absolutely. So tell everybody just you know where you're from and what got you into tax uh into the taxidermy business and uh all that good stuff.

Seth’s Path Into Taxidermy

SPEAKER_02 1:23

All right, well, uh yeah, I'm about uh about an hour south of Macon in Dublin. Um, I started doing taxidermy when I was 19. Um, I was working at a uh a building supply company, and I just I knew that that it wasn't what I wanted to do forever. And uh so I started just thinking about what could I do for a career. And I started looking at all the deer mounts and duck mounts and the walls, and I said, that'd be kind of cool. And um and I started YouTubing and um started trying to learn on YouTube, and I actually came across one guy on there and he helped me out a good bit, and um just lots of prayers and phone calls, rejected phone calls, just trying to get somebody to teach me, and um and the Lord helped me and um my manager at the time asked me, he said, What do you want to do for a living? I know you don't want to be here. And um I said, I want to be a taxidermist. And he said, Well, I know a guy, and uh about about two months later I ended up working full-time with him. And um about to say, I'm just then I started my own full-time thing. Um, and he gave me the name, gave me a freezer, and gave me a mountain stand, and said, Here you go. And um, yeah, it's been it's been a fun ride for sure.

SPEAKER_05 2:36

That's crazy, man. But you know, I mean, it's cool how it worked out, you know, kind of what you were praying for that time all that time worked out, and he had to happen to have somebody to introduce you to. Um, you know, taxidermy is just one of those things that's like so specialized. And to your point, like a lot of missed calls. I can see like it be one one of those things where people might not want to share their like trade secrets or whatever. Yeah. Um, but I'd imagine it's also one of those things that the people that are good at it, there's those people are getting older and getting out of it, and there's probably not as many young people, like any any trade, I guess, you know, not as many young people coming into it that are talented.

Openness In The Trade & Workload

SPEAKER_02 3:14

Yeah, exactly. I mean, used to several years ago, it used to be one of those things where it was just very hush hush, and you don't you don't tell anybody because that might cost them some business. But I mean, realistically now, I mean, there's plenty of work for everybody out there. I mean, it only I mean to be a full-time tax thermist, I mean, my number is 300 ducks a year. That's that's what I that's what I need to be able to be full-time. And I mean, 300 ducks out of a season, I mean, that's nothing.

SPEAKER_01 3:42

Right.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

And so, I mean, and especially if like the younger guys like my like myself, when I when I was trying to get into it, I mean, I mean, I would have done anything in the world to be able to be where I'm at now sooner. But I mean, I'm just trying to help the younger, the younger generation try to get into it and keep this, keep the trade alive, honestly.

SPEAKER_05 4:00

Yeah, dude, that's that's awesome. And uh I definitely agree with you. It seems like anybody that's um like anybody that's reputable as a taxidermist, they're always like slammed. Like, you know, like there's definitely enough work to go around, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_02 4:16

Exactly. I mean, you're a good taxidermist that stays busy. I mean, you're lucky to find him under a year turnaround. Like me, I'm I'm 12 to 14, possibly pushing 16 months out right now.

Turnaround Times & Expedited Work

SPEAKER_05 4:31

Yeah, no, I mean, and I know that's standard too, because I mean, I don't know if somebody on here is listening to that has never uh taken a bird to the taxidermist. That's um pretty standard. Is is it um does it vary between like if you're doing a duck or a deer, or is it kind of the same?

SPEAKER_02 4:47

I mean, the time frame for me, I mean, the time mounting the the specimen changes, but uh as far as the wait time, it's about the same. Like, because I mean people always ask me, like, why is it why does it take so long? Why is it taking me 12 months to get a duck back? And then they asked me, well, how long does it take you to do one? And I say five, five and a half hours from from time to skin it from to the time it goes home, it's five and a half hours of work. But I also got to work on all the ducks that came before you brought this one. So I mean, and I do offer an expedite service for people that just really want it back sooner. Um, you just basically pay an extra two hundred dollars up front, and uh I get it back to them in in five months. So you can kind of skip the line a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 5:35

Yeah, there you go. You want hey, you want it's just like anything in life, right? You you want you want the luxuries, you gotta pay for it.

SPEAKER_02 5:42

Exactly. Exactly. Like these guys, this guy right here, he brought me that Ross Goose, uh, Wood Duck, the mallard, and then he also brought me a green wing and a wigeon. Um, he ended up expediting all of those, and he dropped them off, I think, first week of January.

SPEAKER_03 5:57

Wow.

SPEAKER_04 6:01

Me personally, um, I'm gonna be a cheap guy and I'll go. But that is, I mean, when you talk about the fact that you know it I think that everybody, uh unless you're new to hunting, you're expecting a year. Yeah, you know, I mean, that's just like the general consensus, right? I mean, I think so. I mean, if you have a problem with that, then pay the 200 bucks.

SPEAKER_06 6:29

Yeah, it's just an extra yeah.

SPEAKER_04 6:33

I was just sitting there doing the math, and so out of a 365-day year, there's 260 work days on a normal work week.

SPEAKER_06 6:43

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_04 6:44

He's putting out 300 ducks. That's yeah. That's a lot. That's a lot of ducks.

SPEAKER_02 6:50

It's a lot of work. It really is.

Shop Setup & Species Focus

SPEAKER_04 6:52

Now, do you have a goal for like any big game and stuff too, or do you only do ducks?

SPEAKER_02 6:56

Um, I have two shops right now. I have my dad running one shop for me. He does my my shoulder mounts, Europeans, tanning hides, and then I focus primarily on the birds, which would be your geese and your ducks. And I've dabbled in some upland stuff like pheasants and quail and whatnot, but I primarily like to stay with ducks.

SPEAKER_05 7:15

So I'm really curious, you know, like because outside looking in, like, you know, we all know how easy it is to like breast a duck and how fragile they are in in terms of you know, they get shot and the wings tore up or something like that. I'm just kind of curious, like, obviously, there's not like a visual demonstration here, but like, yeah, what is what is that process like from start to beginning? I mean, like, from the you know, like it's amazing how you look at these mounts, it's like, okay, they had to get that off the bird, but you cannot tell where they like cut it open and got the, you know what I mean?

SPEAKER_02 7:47

Exactly. Yeah. I mean, it it it all your mount starts in the field. It it it means I've always heard from my first mentor, if you treat the bird like it's already mounted once you shot it, I mean, that you can't ask for any better. I mean, your bird, your bird mount's only gonna be as good as as your bird is. I mean, because we can't replace feathers, we can't fix shot wings. I mean, I mean, we can fix shot wing bones, we can't shit fix shot feathers.

SPEAKER_04 8:14

Yeah, but and um, I mean, it's you mean you guys can't just put a whole wing on and and uh you know do all that. I mean, come on, you guys are taxidermists, right? Yeah, I mean spare feathers sitting on the phone. I I had a guy one time in the feather shop area, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 8:33

I mean, I had a guy one time call me, said, Man, I got the stud Drake pentail I just shot, and I was like, awesome, man. Uh he said, but there's one little thing I want to take a picture of and send it to you and see if you can fix it. I was like, okay. And uh he sends me a pentail body, and then the head is uh separated from the duck, and I'm like, I can't, I can't do much nothing about that, man.

Intake, Freezing & Pose Decisions

SPEAKER_05 8:56

Yeah, man. So um I want to I want to ask my next thing I want to ask uh here in a second is like your thoughts on like preparation of birds because I think that's a good topic too. Yeah, for sure. So I mean, what does it look like when you get the bird and you're finally like, all right, I I know you probably put it up for a few months, or do you just do you get it and then you skin it out as soon as you get it and then you get back to it, or like what does that process look like?

SPEAKER_02 9:22

So my process is once the bird comes in, I I visually assess it to see, okay, so what kind of pose are we am I able to do? Um, and then once we go over that, I go over that with the customer. Um, I take the bill, I wrap it with a wet pepper towel to keep it hydrated. Because freezers are made to pull moisture. And if and if that pulls moisture out of that bill, like I'll grab this this head right here. So I use artificial heads. This is a shoveler that I'm about to be doing. So I skin out this little section right here between the the bill and the feathers.

unknown 9:57

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 9:57

And if I can't skin that out, and if it's free to burn, I can't do much of nothing with the duck. So that's why I wrap that with a white paper towel to keep moisture in there.

SPEAKER_05 10:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:07

And then uh what I do is I take the head and I either bend it over the back of the bird or on the outside of the wing. I'm sure y'all have heard the tuck it under the wing. I I don't know who started that. I don't see what it does any different, but I like to keep it like to where I can see it. So I can assess what kind of damage has been done, if any at all. So that way can that can determine the pose, which way is it facing, um and that kind of and that kind of thing. And then what I do is I just grab a like a two-gallon ziplop bag or like or a gallon ziplop bag, depending on the size of the bird. And then um, then I just I put it in the freezer and um just airtight, and then whenever I get around to it, I uh I thaw it out and I'm beginning I begin the skinning and uh prepping process.

SPEAKER_05 10:54

Now, is that that skinning process? I mean, I gotta imagine that's pretty delicate. I mean, do you is that one of those things that like when you're new you could like screw up pretty easy?

SPEAKER_02 11:04

Or oh yeah, like the first time like I I said because I shot this really hide off of a rabbit.

SPEAKER_03 11:10

Yeah, right.

Skinning, Fleshing & Washing Process

SPEAKER_02 11:10

Yeah, yeah, it's not the same thing, yeah. Of course. Uh the first time I skinned a duck, it was my it was a beautiful wood duck I shot. And I was like, I'm gonna mount this thing myself. It's my very first one. And I got it on the table and I said, Oh boy, what am I gonna do? And I started scanning, and it actually went a lot smoother than I thought it would, but it also took me two hours to skin it out when now it takes me 15 minutes. Wow, wow, yeah, yeah, to skin it and get it ready for the fleshman wheel. Yeah, it's uh it's a very delicate process, but at the same time, I mean, I know what I can and can't do and where I can manhandle it, and where I was like, okay, I need to be a little more tender here.

SPEAKER_04 11:55

Yeah, let me ask this, Seth. Are there um certain species that based on um their fat content or just the way that they're made, that they're easier to mount than others?

SPEAKER_02 12:08

Like because the skin's easy, it comes off easier or um as far as like the making it easier, I will say whenever whenever I get it on the flushing wheel, um, it does get a little bit easier as far as like diving ducks because divers have a lot tougher skin. So I've got a wire wheel over here that spends about 1700 RPM, and that's what knocks all the fat content and membrane.

SPEAKER_05 12:35

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Tumbling, Drying & Feather Structure

SPEAKER_02 13:08

And to be able to get the get the skin clean. And so, like a puddle duck, like your wood ducks, your especially your mallards and teal, uh, Gadwall, they're very thin skinned. And so, especially near the rump of the bird, I cannot tell you many holes I've blown in herds, just just because it's so it's so thin and delicate, it's almost like a dove in that area. But then you get a like a like an old squaw or a canvas back or a ringneck or even a coot, like flushing a coot, you couldn't run a uh angle grinder through that thing. But yeah, those divers, I mean, they're a breeze. Like if like someone was trying to learn how to flush a bird, um, I would definitely recommend doing divers first, just just for that. But as far as like mounting, I mean, I wouldn't say one species is easier than the other. I think I've just done more of them. Like shovelers, I've done a lot of shovelers, and you kind of learn what you can and can't do with the with the feathers themselves, because I mean each mounts a little different because each one, like a wing may be broken, I gotta repair it. Or uh there's a hole in the skin I'm trying to hide or something. But I mean, I'd say my favorite one or really easiest one's probably probably the shoveler or widget. Those are my two favorites.

SPEAKER_04 14:32

Nice. Yes, sir. I was just curious because I was like, I wonder, is there something going on with my mic? Just talking to that.

SPEAKER_05 14:39

That's that's that's that's yeah, you're good. It was on mute earlier. If he if he sounded, if he sounded like really far away, it's because his whole thing was on mute.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

That's what I thought it was. I was like, he is very quiet.

SPEAKER_04 14:50

Yeah, oh, and I'm not a quiet person.

SPEAKER_05 14:53

Yeah, I was sitting here and I'm like, I can just hear him talking, but I can't like hear him in the headset. Like I can tell the difference, you know. Yeah, like I can hear you great.

SPEAKER_04 15:01

Yeah, well, I can tell that's not well to preface this. I just painted the whole studio floor, and it's oh wow to do, so I had to get all the equipment off the floor, and just long story short, it was a very um tedious tedious process.

How To Store Birds Right

SPEAKER_02 15:18

Yeah, so you had you had a fun day. Yeah, you had a really fun day.

SPEAKER_04 15:23

But um, I was like, I wanted to give it time enough to cure because I painted the floor, and I was waiting till like till five o'clock because I was like, I gotta wait because I don't want to walk on it at all. So then I started doing all this stuff, and of course it took way longer than I thought. It's like uh which is my fault, but but no, no, all right. So we're good. But no, I was just curious if like like if you get this one kind of bird, you know, you're just like, man, F. You know, you're like, gosh, I can't do it. Or you get one that you're like, yes, you know. I just wondered if like a bird.

SPEAKER_02 15:57

Like surprising, this will probably surprise a lot of people, but my least favorite bird to mount is a mallard Drake.

SPEAKER_05 16:03

No kidding.

SPEAKER_02 16:04

I can't stand them just solely solely because of how easy they tear. Ah, and just like how much like because once you release all that fat content inside of them, they kind of what we say blow up, they blow out, and so their skin gets wider. Okay, and so you especially if you get a big fat mallard. I mean, don't get me wrong, beautiful bird, I love them once they're finished. But that in-between part, that is a aggravating thing.

Freezer Burn, Timing & Vacuum Seal Myths

SPEAKER_05 16:36

Now, when it comes to like that part where you got the duck skin, and like I've seen videos of like, you know, I think you kind of were talking about it a second ago, but like, you know, you're twirling the duck skin and like this thing, and there's like I don't know, like some kind of dust or whatever. Like, what is what is that, I guess, process to getting that skin to a point where it's like once I put this on this bird, it's not gonna like rot, I guess. If that's that's like the only way I can think to ask.

SPEAKER_04 17:02

I mean, do you salt it? Do you yeah if there's a trade secret, don't share it, of course. But I know like like what's the you're you're talking about skin prep.

SPEAKER_05 17:11

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 17:12

Basically, like what in here you gotta tan the hide and all that stuff.

SPEAKER_02 17:14

So yeah, yeah. So my skin preps basically, once I skin it, I get every little bit of red meat out that I can. I take it over to my flushing wheel, I get all of the fat and residual grease off of the bird. And then um, once I get done with that, I take it uh to my sink and I and I just I wash it hot water. Because I mean, say you get butter on your fingers. What do you wash it off with? Warm water. So that's the same thing with the duck. So I'm using kind of not scalding hot, but pretty hot water, and just going through a couple rinses with Dawn dish soap, and then after a couple washes and rinses, and I'll uh switch to cold water, do a couple more Dawn washes, and then I will mix Tide with Downy, Wool Light and Dawn all together and let it sit for about 20 minutes. And then once I rinse it off twice, it'll literally be squeaky clean. Like you can hear it just you can hear it squeak. And when I when I see when I hear it squeak, that makes me happy. And then once I bring it back in the shop, back to what you were saying about the tumbling process. So what that is, they fill a barrel full of corn crop grit. It's about I think it's number 40 corncop grit. And what that does is it separates all those damp compressed feathers apart. So that way it makes blow drying a lot easier and a lot faster too.

SPEAKER_05 18:39

Okay.

Bills, Warts & Artificial Parts

SPEAKER_02 18:40

Yep, and then once I get that done, I grab my big old pet dryer and I just sit there and just and blow dry it. I blow dry it until all of those feathers are completely fluffed back out. And one thing that a lot of people, especially beginning taxidermists, will do is that they'll just blow dry it until those top feathers that everybody sees looks pretty. But the thing is, if there's feathers below that, your down feathers. And if you don't get your down feathers all fluffed up, you're you're gonna have one slick bird. And it's not it's gonna form to that body that you put on, like this body right here. This is a shovel, this is one of my shoveler bodies. So once you put that skin on and there's no down to kind of hold it up, it's just gonna it's gonna look just like that form whenever it's like freaking Comaron. Yeah, yeah, look like a water turkey.

SPEAKER_05 19:31

Yeah, okay. No, that's that's interesting stuff, man. Yeah, um, I when it comes to like what's your take on preserving birds? Like how I just I know you touched on the thing about the uh tucking it in the wing. Uh don't judge me when I bring mine in because that's how they told me to do it. But what's uh you know, I I've heard people say, yes, you should wrap the feet and the beak and all that with uh wet paper towel, and some people are like, no. So like what is your like standard? Like you're telling a client what they should do with their bird.

SPEAKER_02 20:01

I mean, my standard thing is like I said earlier, wrap the bill. You don't have to wrap the head, just just wrap that bill. Okay, and then if you want to, you can wrap the feet. Um, I've actually moved away from using the real feet, and I use an artificial foot now. Uh, they're basically pre they're casted feet of that duck, and I'll grab one right here. Let's see. So this foot right here is an old squat foot. That is a casted old squat foot.

SPEAKER_05 20:29

Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Made out of a made out of a resin. Um and basically what I'll do is I'll slip a wire in here, I'll measure where it goes to my knee and then to my hip, and then I can just set it on the body, and it'll kind of just hang off right there.

SPEAKER_06 20:45

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 20:46

But um, so I mean, if you want to wrap the feet, you can. If you don't, it ain't the end of the world. Okay, but my main thing, like I said, is wrap that bill, and then um I'm sure I'm sure you've seen people wrap them in grocery sacks and and whatnot. And grocery sacks are a no-go.

SPEAKER_05 21:04

Yeah. They're not made to hold airtight.

SPEAKER_02 21:06

Yeah, they're not made to hold anything.

SPEAKER_05 21:08

Right.

Species Difficulty & Skin Differences

SPEAKER_02 21:09

And so, I mean, my my what I tell everybody is if it's a smaller bird like your wood ducks, your teal, um, gallon ziplop bags. Um, if you go to Kroger, you can find two gallon zip-lop bags. They work really good for bigger birds like uh like Ross geese and uh uh mallards and whatnot. Yeah, that's that's kind of my that's kind of my basic kind of rules right there.

SPEAKER_05 21:31

Okay, and so what's like and the reason I asked this, so like one of the ones I'm bringing. What's up, guys? Tristan here. If you're like us, you need gear that's gonna stand up to the elements and not break the bank. That's exactly what we love about Frog Talks. They just dropped their brand new Octob waterfile series, and let me tell you, this stuff is built for serious hunters who don't want to quit when the weather turns nasty. It's tough, lightweight, and waterproof. Everything you need when you're out there taking up. If you're looking to upgrade your gear this season, Head over to Frogtalks.com and use code OneHuffalife Outdoors at checkout for 15% off your order. It's a redhead that I shot not this January, but the January before. So it's been in the freezer for I guess a year and two months, year and three months, something like that. Um but basically like the way I've been doing it, I haven't been wrapping anything, but I've been putting it in a gallon zip box bag and then like taking the taking the bag and like or maybe a two-gallon and kind of wrapping it around it, getting it zip or airtight, and then just kind of loose, loosely taking like masking tape and just kind of like to secure the bird, not like compress the bird, but wrap it kind of like that. That's kind of do you think like what's the longest they can last like that? I mean, do you think that's uh will that bird will give you any problems?

SPEAKER_02 22:48

I don't think so. I mean, unless it's something with shot damage or just something wild, because I mean I've had them packaged perfectly and they freezer burn in five months.

SPEAKER_06 22:55

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 22:55

But it's just it's one of those things. I mean, birds can last sometimes if they're packaged not properly, they'll last two months and they're freezer burnt.

SPEAKER_03 23:04

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 23:05

But I mean, I've had some birds last six years. Holy cow. Like this wood duck right here. I mean, it was in the freezer since I think twenty twenty eighteen. Oh my gosh. Yeah, it's it's been in there for a minute. Or 2019. Yeah. Yeah, it's it's been in there for a minute. And I mean, it it turned out awesome. I mean, I had to do a little bit of rehydration to it just to kind of get the skin back flexible. But other than that, I mean, it it worked out pretty good. But there is unfortunately, like I said, some some cases where I gotta let the guy know call him and say, hey man, this this bird's no good. And in that case, I have to just give him his refund and tell him, hey, I'd be happy to mount another one for you.

SPEAKER_04 23:45

Gotcha, gotcha. Um I was just curious, like, what is there any like good in in trying to vacuum seal it? I mean, I automatically when I think about that, I think about it just squishing it and not being a good idea.

SPEAKER_02 24:00

But I'm just gonna go. And you'd be right. You'd be right. Yeah, you'd be you'd be right. So whenever you I had a guy bring a duck that was vacuum sealed the other day, and I told him, I was like, hey, don't ever do that. Because I mean, and I and he said, Well, why not? And I said, I'll show you. So what the vacuum sealed bag does is it leaves indentions on those feathers. It basically compresses it so much that it leaves indentions in the feathers and it looks just mgled. And it does it, it won't ever fix itself.

unknown 24:28

I gotcha.

Odd Birds, Hybrids & Identification

SPEAKER_02 24:29

Yeah, but I mean, um if you want to vacuum seal it, but like leave it to where it can still roll around a little bit in the bag, that's fine. As long as it's not completely compressed, like you eat like a pork, like a pork one you got in the freezer.

SPEAKER_04 24:40

I got you. Um now thinking of Ross yeast, just because I've got one in the fridge over there, and we were talking about it. So this just kind of came to mind. How do you preserve the warts or you know, how do you preserve preserve that part of because to me, I mean at least what I've learned so far is just like if you got a beak with a bunch of warts, that's a that's a pretty uh pretty cool bird to have mounted.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Yeah, yeah, that's pretty cool.

SPEAKER_04 25:09

I got one that's got crap all over it, dude. It looks like some scary movie. That's cool. So, how do you preserve that? Is that something you have to recreate or skin off, or how does that work?

SPEAKER_02 25:21

Yeah, so so what I do is I recreate that. I'll take a bill. Um that's I don't have one ready on me, but so basically, like pretend this is a Ross goose. Yeah, um, so basically what I do is I take this bill and I hand paint every one of them that comes through the shop. And whatever, like whatever you want me to pay attention to on that bird, I will do it. Like this that Ross goose right here, he didn't have a lot of warts, he was mainly like look just look like a snow goose. So he had more red on his. But like, say for like one like yours that has risk real warty, so I would recreate that.

SPEAKER_03 25:52

Oh, okay, nice.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Yeah, so I mean you could send me like reference pictures of like when you shot it, and I could basically just take that and paste it onto here. Ah, I got a wood duck, got a wood duck head right here. So that's one I that's one that like you'll get.

SPEAKER_04 26:11

Okay, nice.

SPEAKER_02 26:12

Okay, yep.

SPEAKER_04 26:13

Right on, right on. Now, yeah, now you got me thinking, so what's the most unique weird thing that you've mounted like with a a waterfowl? Like you came in here, like, oh, this is gonna be dope to mount, or whatever, you know. Um like hybrid's the obvious, but have you had any like anything outside of that, I guess, weird happening?

SPEAKER_02 26:32

Yeah, I had a mallard come in this past season with a blue bill.

SPEAKER_03 26:37

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 26:38

A light blue bill. And I was like, You sure this isn't a park duck? Right. That was my first question. And he was like, No, I shot it wild, and then I'll and a way you can tell if it's a farm duck or not is if you look at their their foot, and if they have that hind toe on one side and don't have it on the other, that's a farm duck. Every time.

SPEAKER_04 26:57

Oh.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah, every time.

SPEAKER_04 27:00

I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_05 27:00

I never knew that either.

SPEAKER_02 27:01

That's interesting. Yeah, I I used to work at uh at a farm preserve uh over not too far from here, and we used to do the wild or wild mallard hunt. Yeah, and um, yeah, you could tell like they always had that little hind toe clipped off just to let people know, like, hey, that's a farm bird.

SPEAKER_05 27:18

So so what's your take on um how often does somebody bring in a mallard that they shot in Georgia that like either you can tell from that, because like there's a lot of people, and I think if I remember right, if you look on Georgia DNR, I'm pretty sure they claim we don't get any migratory mallards, if I'm not mistaken.

SPEAKER_03 27:34

But the original coast bloodline.

SPEAKER_05 27:38

Yeah, but I'm that's uh I read that somewhere, I'm pretty sure, but I could be wrong. But obviously, I'm sure people shoot them from time to time. So, how often uh do people come in and they're just like, Oh man, I got this like migratory mallard in your head? You're not gonna like you don't want to spoil it for them, but you're just like no.

SPEAKER_02 27:56

I'd say one out of ten. That that'd be my guess. One out of ten is is probably a part duck or some sort of hybrid. Well, yeah, some sort of hybrid between a farm duck and a maligned mallard. But majority of them, I mean, they're they're full, they're full mallard. I mean, I can you can just look at them and tell.

SPEAKER_05 28:15

But majority the body size is a big difference too, right?

Georgia Waterfowl Sightings & Patterns

SPEAKER_02 28:19

Oh, yeah, 100%. Like, I mean, most of the mallards like shot in Georgia. I mean, they're pretty they're they're medium to smaller on on on that kind of body range. Like they're a lot smaller than like a mallard, a mallard in uh Arkansas, like yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:35

Yeah, there's no doubt about that. Because I remember the first time I that's why like all the southern folks, you know, we go to like Arkansas, and I know this drive drives Cade crazy, but we're like, dude, that's a big old fat Canada mallard. Do you know what I mean? Yeah, what it is, it's just that and all species of animals are actually bigger the further north they live, just to be able to endure the conditions and everything, just like deer, uh everything. And that's all it is, right? It's just uh that that species of that animal.

SPEAKER_02 29:06

Yeah, it was it it all depends on which flyway it came from and where where it's been migrating to and from. But like, I mean, there's there's some mallards I get shot on the same day that were brought to me by the same guy. One mallard will be have an inch inch of fat on it, and one will be just straight skin. There will be no fat on it.

SPEAKER_05 29:23

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 29:24

Yeah, and that's one thing that I've I've yet to kind of figure out yet. Is because like when I like I just said, like, whenever I was just skinning out mallards one day, seen one had that inch thick of fat, and it came from the same guy, and the same guy brought me one that was just there was nothing. I was like, how does that happen? Because it was in late December whenever it happened.

SPEAKER_04 29:47

Yeah, it just makes you wonder if you got like I don't know, like lazy duck, right? You got lazy movie duck that just sits around in the trees and doesn't do shit so eat.

SPEAKER_02 29:57

Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's just sitting there stopped piling corn.

SPEAKER_04 30:00

Yeah, then you got teenage party duck that's out there like running the streets all the time, you know, staying thin, you know.

SPEAKER_05 30:06

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_06 30:09

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 30:11

He kind of alluded to it earlier, but you know, what's like have you had any crazy hybrids that have come in?

SPEAKER_02 30:16

Uh I actually had one, and I'll uh I'll send you a picture when we get done. Okay. We're getting we got DNA strips sent off for it, but uh we go back and forth on it between a spec Canada and a and a blue and a blue Canada or blue spec.

SPEAKER_05 30:34

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 30:35

It it's a big it's it's bigger than any Canada I've I've worked with. It I mean that noggin on it is huge. It's it's probably it's probably the size of my fist. I mean it's a big bird.

SPEAKER_04 30:47

Wow, holy cow. Well and and Canada is typically bigger than a blue goose, right? I mean in most cases. I mean, even the smaller cacklers, you know, are gonna be bigger. A speck is definitely I would put it in between like well it depends. I guess if it's a Ross goose or a blue or a regular snow goose. Yeah. You know what I mean? But you guys think it's bigger, huh?

SPEAKER_02 31:11

If I had to guess, I mean, I think Canada spec. That's if I had to put money on it, that's what that's what I would say. Yeah, it's it's a really cool looking bird. And it came in, my buddy told me he was hunting in Nebraska when he shot it, and it came in with a bunch of specs, and he said, I got this one away. And he pulled up one shot and dropped it, and that thing he brought it to me. I was like, this thing is cooler in person.

SPEAKER_04 31:34

That's wild because I think it's very it's a lot more rare for geese to crossbreed than um than ducks. Oh, okay. I didn't know that. Yeah, yeah, that's you very I matter of fact, I I think that scientists would almost claim that it almost never happens that Canada geese cross with like uh snows or specks, if I'm right.

SPEAKER_06 31:55

Huh.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

I can I mean I can see that for sure. Yeah, I can definitely see that. Because geese, they like to stay to like themselves. They like to stay in the room. Yeah, that is true.

Cooking Wild Game: From Specs To Goose

SPEAKER_04 32:03

Yeah, I don't know about the snow geese if Rossies will get with blues and etc.

SPEAKER_02 32:09

I don't know how now that that might be a possibility. I could see that. Like this, like this Rossi right here, he was he has a little bit of blue on him, like just a little bit of streak on the top of his head, and on just a tiny little bit on his back. So I'm not I'm not a hundred percent sure what he is, but I mean he's I mean, he's the same size as that mallard right behind me. Wow.

SPEAKER_04 32:32

I just saw some beautiful blue geese shot. Um matter of fact, buddy of mine's gonna mount one, and uh, you know, I want that reverse. What's it called? It's it's when it's reversed. It's uh it's a reverse blue goose, basically, where the head's black and it has the white strip. It's it's have you ever seen one? It is pretty cool.

SPEAKER_06 32:54

I haven't seen one.

SPEAKER_04 32:59

Yeah, I can't remember what I was like. That's pretty sick. Yeah. That makes, you know, I don't know if that happens as just a a breeding rarity or maybe it's a cross, you know, of one of those. I just we were talking about snow geese crossing, I just kind of got me thinking.

SPEAKER_05 33:16

But have um oh, go ahead, Seth.

SPEAKER_02 33:19

I've seen I'm about to say, whenever I was at that farm preserve, I seen I used to go out there and feed those mallards every day. Uh-huh. And there's always a like 80 or 80 or so Canadas in this big pond. And one day I went out there and I seen this one white little dot right in the middle. And they all got up, started flying around, and all the Canadas landed. And then I look up and there's that snow goose just still flying in circles in the middle of Georgia, more lost than last year's Easter egg, just up there, just howling.

SPEAKER_05 33:49

That's that's pretty cool. It's a you always see like on the Facebook groups where somebody will randomly shoot one somewhere, and you're like, dude, that is like once a lifetime in Georgia or Florida.

SPEAKER_02 33:59

Like I've had uh I had three or four guys this year brought me Gadwall pentails shovelers from around here. Wow, just in right, just in random farm ponds.

SPEAKER_05 34:10

How cool is that?

SPEAKER_02 34:11

Oh, it's it's pretty neat. I mean, I mean, they were all hens, but it's still pretty cool just to be able to see them and see like, oh wow, they do come down here.

SPEAKER_04 34:20

Right. There's some things I'm not making any predictions, so I can't say whether things are changing or if it's always been this way. I can just based on my observation. Here's a couple weird things. One, in September this year, I was letting my dog out front at night, and I I had I think I had my voice memo on my phone so I could record it. I had a bunch of specs fly over the top of the house. I can't believe it. I was sitting out, I was I thought because like you know, like when you're spec hunting and people are blowing that spec call and it just like it'll ring in your ears for like seven days.

SPEAKER_06 34:54

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 34:55

I was like, I was like, am I having some kind of like flashback? But I was like, that really was. But then um the other thing I was gonna say is you know, just last night, I was telling Tristan, you know, I've got this, we've got this you call a small lake pond, whatever you want to call it. It's probably 20 acres, I don't know, out back. And I went around the corner, and me and Ike were just out there floating around, it's a beautiful evening, and came around the corner and jumped a bunch of buffalo heads and probably about four to six bluebills and about a dozen redheads. That's you know, and I'm like, dude, that is so cool to see.

SPEAKER_02 35:31

I mean, and it's naturally after the season, naturally, right?

SPEAKER_04 35:35

Of course. I've seen just about everything out there, honestly. I haven't seen a shoveler, but you know, um, during early teal, remember me getting buzzed? I'm walking down the steps in the middle of my yard back here, and I get buzzed. I'm like, son of a bitch, that was like two dozen teals. Yeah, you know. So I don't know. I mean, maybe they're starting to venture out a little bit. There's always those meet those ones that seem like they're lost, you know, just like you know, Williamson, you know, they always seem to shoot a few snow geese every year.

SPEAKER_05 36:02

Yeah. You know, so I don't know. Have um, Seth, have you heard the thing about the Canada geese in Georgia? Like how they originated here?

SPEAKER_02 36:11

I have not.

Recipes, Carnitas & Kitchen Wins

SPEAKER_05 36:12

So, and I heard this at a Delta waterfowl thing. So I I would assume it's pretty credible. You know, I mean, I don't think they're just gonna willy-nilly throw info off, but um now if somebody like somebody's buddy told me this, I'd be like, that's bullshit. So basically, uh they made a trade allegedly in like the 50s or 60s, I think they said, with New York, and they were they took Canada geese from New York and they took sandhill cranes from Georgia, I guess South Georgia, I don't know, because I know they get them in Florida, but um they did a trade or whatever. The sandhill cranes just migrated, you know, they left left New York, they're like, screw that, you know, we don't want to be here. But the the geese was uh there was 500 of them, none of the geese left, and apparently all of the DNA of the geese in Georgia can be traced back to those original 500 that were in the state. Yeah, and I mean I when I heard that, I was like, Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_02 37:11

Like no, I never heard about that. That's cool.

SPEAKER_04 37:14

Yeah, didn't that such conversation, wasn't it? Also, that that that it's the number one harvested waterfowl.

SPEAKER_05 37:20

Yeah, that's state of Georgia. That's the other thing. Yeah, it's number one harvested waterfowl, too.

SPEAKER_02 37:25

I can believe that. I wish some sand hills would come back down here. That'd be nice.

SPEAKER_05 37:29

That's what I'm saying, man. No, I don't because let me tell you. You know what though? I twice, two different times in like March, I've just been outside doing something random. And I hear there when you hear a sandhill crane, it's the most distinct waterfowl. I guess I don't even know if it's a waterfowl, but you know how distinct they are. Like that sound, yeah, and it sounds like a pterodactyl, and I just look up and there's like way up, I mean way, way up, like a hawk, you know, up in the air, like on the thermals up. And uh sure enough, there's like a migratory group of uh sand hills, and I've seen it two different times here in Georgia, and I was like, I had no idea. I thought there was just a local population of them in Florida, and they just hung out all the time, but I guess they migrate to wherever they go. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

But say, so they're on the Ultimate Waterfowlers Challenge, correct?

SPEAKER_05 38:22

I don't know. The sand I guess I I mean I'm migratory bird, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 38:26

I mean, they're definitely waterfowl.

SPEAKER_02 38:28

Yeah, so that so would that count them for waterfowl?

SPEAKER_04 38:31

I mean, isn't a blue heron waterfowl? Isn't a crane waterfowl? They're all waterfowl, right?

SPEAKER_02 38:36

I would think so. I don't know. Their anatomy and their feathers, they remind me of upland more than waterfowl. That's that's my only fact, that's my only hang up.

SPEAKER_04 38:46

And so many people dry field shoot them, and quite honestly, you know, like where we saw them a lot in Florida, a ton of them. We would be out hunting. Um they're like there's a name for it, but there's like these floating islands that are in uh fresh in uh fresh bodies of water and brackish bodies of water. And what it is, is like you can literally walk through it, but what's scary about it is you feel like if you step through it, you might go into like what's that um Stranger Things movie, like the Upside Down World. Oh, yeah, you might not come back, yeah. That kind of thing. But they would sit out there on those things, and like Tristan said, they would just cackle like that so freaking loud. But I'm used to seeing my point is I'm used to see them in more of a water environment.

SPEAKER_05 39:31

Well, I don't necessarily because I most of the time when I see them, like when we're driving through, like my wife lives in or wife's mom lives in Orlando, sorry. Um, but when we're going down there, you see them just like on golf courses, on I mean out in the fields. Yeah. Yeah. But um, I just Googled it and the search assistant or whatever said sandhill cranes are often classified as upland birds rather than waterfowl, although they do inhabit wetlands and are associated with water environments, they are distinct from traditional waterfowl species like ducks and geese. I'm just kidding. Well, you can't shoot them, shoot them any with anything out here.

SPEAKER_04 40:08

One hell of a life outdoors. Tristan said that's an upland bird, therefore you can never mind.

SPEAKER_05 40:13

All right, so so Seth, when Tony brings you a sand hill here in the future, just you know, don't say anything about it.

SPEAKER_02 40:20

I don't say nothing. I have a I have a thing right here. You sign, you say, yeah, I took this bird legally. Once you sign the line, I don't I ain't gotta say nothing.

SPEAKER_04 40:27

All right, well, I also want to add a line of waiver that says that you will not sue me for lead poisoning.

SPEAKER_02 40:31

Exactly. I'm not liable for this lead shot cornfed wood duck.

SPEAKER_04 40:37

No, but what a unique animal. They really are. They're uh that's something that's definitely on the bucket list of the beginning for sure.

SPEAKER_02 40:44

But and I've heard they're I've heard they're delicious too. I've always wanted to try.

SPEAKER_04 40:48

That's what I hear. I mean, to me, still, I mean, I know Tristan agrees with this, but uh the spec is definitely for anything we've had, yeah. Yeah, for anything we've had waterfowl-wise, that is the bird. Okay, no doubt about it. They're delicious, man. And AGFC, I've said it before, they've got an incredible rust recipe online that you can look up. It's with uh um it's a raspberry adobo sauce, I believe, or cranky adoba sauce. But you just follow that recipe, that's the first thing I ever like made it other than salt and pepper. And my goodness, is it good? And it's super easy to do, even dumb people like me can do it.

SPEAKER_01 41:23

So did you ever try and you ever tried uh Canada goose?

SPEAKER_04 41:29

I have I've not either. I just went on my first honker hunt actually this year, and I couldn't take it back because I was flying back. But yeah, the guys, what they do up there in the um North Illinois area is they they take it and save it all and throw it in Instapot, and they make like killer Italian beef and stuff like that out of it.

Competition Pieces & Show Creativity

SPEAKER_02 41:50

I've done several things. I've done it like a wood duck where you just sear it and then slice it, and then I made like an Asian sauce to go with it. It was pretty it was decent, but my favorite way to do them is make carnitas out of them. Oh, yeah. That right there is my favorite way to eat a goose.

SPEAKER_04 42:06

No good.

SPEAKER_05 42:07

Dude, I feel like that process of because I like I've done uh I don't know if I've done duck or anything like that, but I do uh deer deer like that a lot, and we'll This winter, elevate your outdoor pursuits with Williams and Outfitters, offering professionally guided experiences along Florida's Forgotten Coast. From coastal duck hunting to inshore fishing, every Williams and Outfitters trip is led by a seasoned captain delivering world class adventure with true local expertise. For small private groups to large corporate retreats, Williams and Outfitters fleet of well-equipped with both and experienced guys provided first-class winter outdoor experiences for sportsmen of all ages and schools. And for those pointing ahead, Williams and Outfitters are already booking spring and summer charters. Secure your fishing, floundering, and family adventure books now afford the founder photo. Or visit FloridaDucks.com to observe your outdoor experience. You know, do tacos with like carnitas or whatever. Yeah. And um that just that process of slow cooking that meat, I mean, and cooking it with the seasoning and stuff, uh, it doesn't matter what meat that is, it's all gonna end up tasting like amazing at the end.

SPEAKER_02 43:20

Exactly.

SPEAKER_05 43:21

I mean, it's it's just something about that process. I don't know. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:24

I I I like to do different recipes other than like the poppers and whatnot. Me too. So so what I've done, like we went dove hunting well several times. We we ended up bringing back, I think, 30 between me and my buddy, and one more person. And I ended up making um dove popper quesadillas. Ooh. Which you you marinade the dove breast, cut up in ranch, Worcestershire, and pickle juice overnight. And then you throw it in the oven, let it bake, and then you mix all the ingredients like your jalapenos, your uh cheese. Uh cream cheese, all that good stuff. Then you mix that up, put it on a tortilla, and then put your dove on there, and then just put it on the stovetop.

SPEAKER_05 44:08

Uh-huh.

SPEAKER_02 44:09

That right there is so delicious, good and dense. I can like the dumb season.

SPEAKER_05 44:13

Holy cow, dude. That sounds awesome. I think I think a lot of people like, you know, tea teach their own, you know, however you want to eat, like with the harvest, you know, nothing wrong with that. But I'm kind of with you. Like, I feel like a lot of people are just missing out. And I say this in a sense of like, you don't know how good, how awesome it can be. Some of these rest these recipes, man. Like, I um I'm with you. I try to do all kinds of different stuff, and one of my memories on Facebook today was a year ago I did venison pho. So, like, I don't know if you've ever had pho like Vietnamese. I did it with did it with deer, uh like steak or whatever, and God, it was amazing.

SPEAKER_02 44:50

Really?

SPEAKER_05 44:51

Yeah, man. I mean, because it's just yeah, I mean, it's you know, you're basically everything's the same as like the you know, the broth and everything you're doing is like pho, and then deer steak, everyone you know knows that it tastes good, so that's basically it, you know.

SPEAKER_02 45:05

Yeah, we we've done the same thing. We took some deer steak last night actually and made uh Philly cheesesteaks out of them.

SPEAKER_05 45:10

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 45:11

Like that left with all with the bell peppers and everything. Yeah, it it turned out pretty good.

SPEAKER_05 45:16

I bet so. Yeah, I mean, I and honestly, I find a lot of times like when I like go back and fry something, besides quail, quail was really damn good, Fred. Yes, but like a lot of times when I go back and fry something like deer or whatever, I'm like, man, I wish I didn't do that.

SPEAKER_02 45:33

Yeah, yeah. It's like this is kind of not satisfying at all.

unknown 45:37

I know, I know.

Eyes, Materials & Paying For Quality

SPEAKER_04 45:39

I'm like, I was cooking meat. This is the first year in a couple years, honestly, that I've had enough deer meat to just be like be a little gluttonous with it. Yeah, where I'm like, hell yeah, like every night I'm eating me some venison, you know? Yeah, or ducks or something. And like I became such a psycho on the temperature. Like I was doubting my temperature gauge last night, and I was like, dude, I think it's reading like a couple degrees too low. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_05 46:12

I would cut my meat out.

SPEAKER_04 46:14

Only this OCD guy would be like, Oh, it's a couple days. I would get my meat cut out, and I'm like, I've done it so much, like now that I'm like, dude, that looks like 134 degree meat versus 125. Ural is in meat. Yeah, dude. No, I'm serious.

SPEAKER_02 46:29

See, I need somebody like you to cook my steak because nobody can seem to cook the way I want a steak cooked, right? Because I like mine blue rare. That's how I like that's how I like to eat my my red meat, is blue rare.

SPEAKER_05 46:41

So you just want it like basically kissing, kissing each side and then uh exactly like a minute and a minute, and I'm ready, and I'm good to go. Gotcha. Okay.

SPEAKER_04 46:50

Yeah, I guess you just kind of get to where you know you you want the best flavor out of it, and there's no doubt about it. I can I'm immediately disappointed in myself when I overcook meat. That's just that I won't let it happen. Like, like I'll should put my phone on silent, make sure I time it was right.

SPEAKER_05 47:08

So I won't, I'll try to keep this story quick, but and I'm not gonna name any names, but we were we were going to uh just like hog hunt with one of our good buddies, and um the landowner, you know, has this cabin, and my buddy, our buddy, is part of the part of the deer lease or whatever, and he's like he's like, Yeah, man, you guys can come up in the springtime or whatever, we'll try to shoot some hogs or whatever and just have a good time. We're like, all right, sweet. And he's an older guy, super nice or whatever, but probably one of those guys that just fries, you know, everything or whatever. And I got at the time I was like trying to like diet real hard and stuff, so I I'm primarily just eating like meat and veggies anyway. But like I brought some uh deer loin and a couple ribeyes and stuff, and I'm like, we'll just cook it all up and you know call it a day. Well, the night kind of dragged on a little bit, and uh I guess he decided he was ready to eat, and he was his property, so I'm not gonna tell him what to do or whatever, but we we went to do something set up for the pig hunt or whatever and came back and he's cooking the cooking the steaks that I was gonna cook, and I was like, okay, well, fair fair enough. It's his property, you know, whatever. And uh, we're in there eating them, and I mean the this loin is just and ribeye is just tough as hell, and it's the seasoning sucks, and we're all sitting there suffering through these steaks. And he said something like, Well, next time, boys, we'll we'll do it upright on the food. And I'm just thinking, um, in my head, I'm like, if you would have let me cook, we would have done it upright.

SPEAKER_04 48:38

Oh, I hear you, dude. We were just like, oh no.

SPEAKER_05 48:42

But we had a great time, and you know, that's a funny story to remember.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

Do you remember about what time y'all got to eat?

SPEAKER_05 48:48

Uh it's probably about close to 10. It was bedtime for him for sure.

SPEAKER_02 48:51

I've I've had that same experience. We uh we went over to a guy about an hour away from here. He's an older fella. And uh he said, go out to them ponds and catch you a mess of crappy and I'll fry him for you. So we spent from like 12 to 5 catching crappy. I mean, we'd come with a cooler full. I mean, there wasn't but like 15 of us. And he's like, All right, well, uh, get them skinned out and I'll uh uh we'll I'll come back and fry them. And we'll we got done skinning about 6, 6:30. And then we'd all just start talking. And I'm sitting there, okay, 7 o'clock. It's time to eat. No, eight, eight o'clock rolls around. No, no, 10 30. He says, All right, I guess it's time to fire up the grease. I was like, Man, it's time for me to fire it to bed. He got done frying all those fish at 11:30 that night. I'll never forget that, man.

SPEAKER_05 49:44

Like, wake me up when those are done. I'll come back. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 49:46

Yeah, I'm gonna take me at a power nap and kill these crappy whenever I get done.

SPEAKER_05 49:51

Oh, that's funny, dude.

SPEAKER_04 49:56

All men get, but I I personally laugh at myself when I catch myself saying it or doing it, and that is it started with my wife going, How come every time you make a burger, it's the best burger you ever made? Yeah, and I'm like, Yes, I don't know. Well, then I started seeing like social media came about and all that kind of stuff, and then you start seeing like all right, this is a similarity with all men that like every time they make something, cook something, bake something, whatever, it is the best damn thing. Some recent bias that you ever made.

SPEAKER_02 50:28

I do the same thing. I do the same thing.

SPEAKER_04 50:31

That's so funny. It's so funny, dude.

SPEAKER_02 50:35

Yeah, I done the same, I done the same thing the last time I made duck gumbo. I said, because the f the last two times was the best talk was the best I ever made. And then this last one was the best one I ever made.

SPEAKER_05 50:47

You see to take a picture with it so you remember, but like this was I I do, I do.

SPEAKER_02 50:51

I need to keep I need to keep my dad's sneakers in the picture and take a picture of the bowl.

Budget Options & Feather Art

SPEAKER_04 50:58

Meat processing stuff that you bought, does it got a sausage thing? It does, yeah. Dude, it just hit me when he said something about dude. What about a sausage boil? Like, make some and do lee sausage out of venison and make it and a gumbo, that might be good. That would be good. Freaking pretty sick, wouldn't it? Because I mean, yeah, I was this dumb that when like I remember like one place that we took our meat to in in Florida one time, Tristan. The guy was like, Oh yeah, here, just take our custom seasoning pack, and that'll be like breakfast sausage. And I'm like, No way, and it was just regular beef fat mixed with venison. We mixed that stuff in there, made some breakfast one more. I'm like, I'll be son of a gun. That tastes exactly like Bob Evans, you know. Oh, but it was just a seasoning pack, so I don't know. Um, I was just thinking maybe you could do that with the meat, and uh, I do we need to make some sauce, that would be freaking pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

I yeah, I'm pretty interested in that. I mean, I love Andrew sausage.

SPEAKER_04 52:00

I got a video I'm getting ready to post with uh shredded venison. I just did um um the most authentic way I could do um enchiladas. Okay, and uh like I went and bought like the authentic sauces like in the um international aisle or whatever. I just wanted to try to get as authentic because I'm pretty white with a person. You know, I didn't want to be like, all right, here's your you know, your cheddar cheese and your flour tortilla, you know, that kind of thing. So anyway, but I put it all together. I'm I'm gonna be posting that soon. But it turned out I I had just so people don't know this, I quit smoking as of February 1st, and I haven't smoked since well, my taste buds have been going like I I had no idea that I could taste this good. I know I really didn't, and honestly, when I made them, I saved a couple. I was like, Man, I think I ruined these. I think I way over seasoned this crack, but here I'm gonna tell people I can't even post this video because it's gonna be way too much seasoning.

SPEAKER_05 53:06

People are gonna be I I was telling them just to post it and say you screwed them up. Well, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 53:11

He comes over and I said, Hey, I saved two of these. I want you to try one and tell me if it if the I overseason. He goes, No, I think it tastes fine. Yeah, they were great. Yeah, but it all it was is just my sensation of taste. I maybe I haven't had that all my life. I don't know, but all of a sudden I can taste real good, you know. And I'm like, I don't need as much salt and that kind of thing. So yeah, it turned out pretty good. Uh I recommend you uh you trying it. But my next I'm gonna have to try it with uh with waterfowl.

SPEAKER_05 53:42

Yeah, so so Seth, you know, I want uh before we get out here tonight. I want to drill back into a little bit more of the taxidermy stuff. And um, you know, is there any like do you do like because I know some people like take certain birds and be like, yeah, I'm gonna make that like a competition piece. Do you do any of that stuff?

SPEAKER_02 54:00

Yeah, I actually do. I actually have a piece right here. Um this piece right here that I'm working on right now. It's gonna be this is an old squaw body.

SPEAKER_00 54:10

Wow, okay.

SPEAKER_02 54:11

And I have these metal reeds that I just got done painting. I've got to take this all this paint off. And um, it's gonna be my showpiece this year, and I'm gonna have like some sand in here and put a couple of clamshells in there, and it'll be basically a like an image of an old squaw swimming through the ocean. That's kind of what I'm doing. Yeah, I've done I've done shows for three years now. Uh-huh. My bird I done last year was a wigeon walking through the snow. Wow. And then I done a wood duck just sitting on a little uh piece of driftwood in like a water scene.

SPEAKER_05 54:46

What um in those competitions, like what I mean, I imagine there's certain like I don't know, realism traits or whatever they're probably grading you on, but like how much of that comes to like create creativity at the end of the day?

Preserving Memories: Tribute Mounts

SPEAKER_02 55:00

I mean, all of it, I mean, you're at the end of the day, you're trying to capture one image of a duck's entire day, whether it be in a in flight, standing, walking, swimming. Uh I mean, you're just you're trying to take a whole sequence of motions that duck doesn't freeze it in time. And I mean it it really like especially on the lower end side of the the competition, and I I say lower end very loosely because I mean you got everybody got to start somewhere. Yeah. So I mean, once you first get into it, I mean you're really just trying to nail down your anatomy, uh, your cleanliness of the bird, and just how well you know how the bird moves and how it behaves. And then once you get further up into like higher end a professional and and into master's division, then you're really trying to go outside of the box. Like I had a guy, um, his name's Kyle Landry. I mean, he is a jam-up taxidermist in Lu in Louisiana.

SPEAKER_05 56:03

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 56:04

He done one, it was basically the metal reeds idea, but he ended up sculpting a widgeon out of uh clay and made it like look like it was made out of bronze.

SPEAKER_00 56:14

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 56:14

And had a mounted widgeon running away from it. Wow. Holy crazy. I mean, it was very complex and very, very cool. God's like some some of the mounts that you and I wish I wish uh customers and people who don't do taxidermic could come see like the inside of the showroom and just be able to see, like, oh my god, this stuff looks like it's alive.

SPEAKER_05 56:38

Oh, I thought we'd be blown away.

SPEAKER_02 56:40

Yeah, I mean, there's there's some of these birds and deer and and bears and turkeys that I'm just waiting on it to blink or move or take a step. Because I mean it just it looks so good, and the attention to detail, I mean, is just out of this world.

SPEAKER_04 56:58

Now, isn't is it true with ducks? Like, I remember one thing uh, you know, I've got some you know, some pretty decent deer that I had mounted by one guy, and uh you know, I don't even know if he's still around anymore, but Illinois. But one thing he told me a long time ago is he's like one of the most important things is the eyeball. And that I know that's with deer, that makes a giant difference. And I never realized it until he showed me like the difference between a cheap eyeball, and I want to say, like, the ones he were buying were like they were expensive, dude. I don't remember what they were, but they were like compared to what he was charging me for the mount, I was like, damn, I would be giving people the cheap eyeballs. You know, is that the same thing with with ducks or anything? Like, does it make a difference or at all?

SPEAKER_02 57:47

A hundred percent. I mean, I mean, yeah, your your duck, like the skin and the feathers where they align, and the movement of those feathers and and bone structure inside the mount matters. But at the end of the day, I mean, when you look at a duck or look at anything, the what's the first thing you look at? They're eyes. Yeah, and so I mean, if you can get that eye to look alive, I mean, that that's the main thing. Cause I mean, there's a lot of people that use cheap eyes, and cheap eyes show. Yeah, and I mean, if you can get those eyes to look right, I mean you can have a decent bird, but I mean, if your eyes don't look right, it's just it's the mouth's not gonna look right.

Training, Mentors & Continuous Learning

SPEAKER_05 58:27

Yeah, that's a good point, because like if there's one little imperfection on like, you know, the wing or something or whatever it might be like, it might take a couple minutes of looking at that bird to find it. But if if you're just glancing at it, you would never notice that, you know.

SPEAKER_02 58:41

Yeah, that's the that's the first thing I look at on a duck is the eyes. I mean, if your eyes are wrong, I mean we everybody can tell. And then back to like what you're saying about using using cheap versus expensive stuff, I mean, your amount is an investment. And I mean, you get what you pay for 100%. I mean, I I've had several people call me and tell me my price is too high. And I mean, I that's that's their opinion. I mean, I I know what my stuff is is valued and and worth and my time is worth. And if if you want to take it to a guy that charges 200 and he can get it back to you in four months with no hardly no wait time, then then great. I hope it turns out awesome. But there's there's very few people out there that that actually do that.

SPEAKER_05 59:26

You know, it's when you say that, it kind of makes me think of like, I feel like we all have had buddies that uh like okay, let me restart. So basically, have you ever had a friend that sends you a picture of like his duck that he just got back, and you he's like, he loves it, and you're like, I love that for you because that was it.

SPEAKER_06 59:47

Yes, I I had to do this.

SPEAKER_05 59:49

But you can you can't crush, you don't want to crush their like dreams or whatever, but you're just waiting for a year and they spent several hundred dollars.

SPEAKER_04 59:57

Yeah, it was an incredible moment because like some of those instances you shared with them and was there when they harvested it, so you know what that meant to them, and then you're just like yeah, I I would imagine as a taxidermist, it's probably even more so like you notice these things, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:14

Yeah, like I've I've had several buddies, like I walk in their house and I see their deer that they have on the wall, and I'm I've got thoughts in my head, but I'm keeping them to myself.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:24

Yeah, that's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:25

But once he says, What do you think of them, then I tell him, Hey, that looks like a turd. And then and then he's like, Well, what do you mean? And then I start poking some pointing stuff out, and he's like, Oh, you're right. And um yeah, I mean, you you get what you pay for a hundred percent.

SPEAKER_05 1:00:43

I believe that it's like that with anything, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:00:46

Yeah, and I mean there's and a lot of people that I mean people a lot of people don't know a whole lot about like the actual like anatomy and what certain birds have, like like mallards, they they all have four curls, every one of them. They just it's two stack on top of each other. And whenever you shoot them, I mean feathers go everywhere. And so that what the what happens is those curls just they separate. So I've had to disappoint a lot of people that tell me, hey man, I shot this three curled, four curled mallard. I'm like, uh no, you don't do like they're all that way.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:21

Just like a double-sprayed pentail, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:23

Yeah, it's it's the same thing. I mean, unless it's just a really young bird, um, they're all gonna have four curls or two pins. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:32

So let's explore this just briefly before we get out because I think it's important. So so you quality does matter, and these parts and pieces that you buy, like you can go to AutoZone and buy a part, or you can go to Ford and buy a part, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:48

So you're yeah exactly.

SPEAKER_04 1:01:50

So explain a little bit just for the person that you know, I'm trying to decide if uh I can afford this versus this. Because at the end of the day, it comes down to how much money we got, right? But you know, just like Tristan and I, for example, we uh definitely uh we we enjoy that that that rare species of bird so much that we definitely are geared more towards the invest more for quality than this side. But I also understand there's folks on this side too that you know, hey, they gotta do this. Just give an ex uh without giving away your secrets, but give an example of like some of the upgrades or some of the things that you might see in in something like that you do versus a guy that does a good job, but maybe it's a lower lower budget type of deal.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:40

I mean, I mean there's there's I mean there's different alternatives to people who I mean, I mean, don't get me wrong, I understand 100%.

SPEAKER_04 1:02:48

Not everybody is missing the artistic work because that's a giant piece of it, right?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:52

Yeah, I mean it's it's all about I mean, what what is your time worth to the like for the tax numbers? What is your time worth? And how well of a job do you think you can do? Because I mean, for a while, I mean I stayed at I stayed at the 200 mark. I mean, I didn't go up to 400 until this past season, but I mean, I've also spent a lot of money. I've I've probably spent fifteen thousand dollars just on schooling. Yeah, because I've I've been to Mississippi twice. I'm about to go to South Carolina next month for another class.

SPEAKER_05 1:03:20

Holy cow, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:22

Yeah, I mean, it's it's just a constant learning. And and I feel like I've I've put in a lot of time and effort to be able to get to where I am. And so I mean, I feel as if that on top of the material cost, I feel like my my shop rate uh meets the standard and quality of my work. But I mean, also, I mean, there is different alternatives for for people who who just who can't who can't afford it. I mean so I mean I I do offer basically it's it's from here, the chest up on a shotgun shell. I've I've done one or two of those. Um I do a little bit of feather art. I don't particularly like to do it just because it's so tedious. Because I mean when I once I get a skin on a bird, if it's preptorate, I can just shake the body and it and it sits perfectly. And everything just greens itself.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:18

Wow.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:18

But I mean, I mean, there's there's so many different things somebody could do. I mean, I used to make bow tie, bow ties out of wood duck feathers. I mean, there's just there's so many different things you can use the feathers for if you if you just cannot afford it, but you still want to save that piece of uh that memory um with you.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:37

That's a good uh that's a good thing to bring up, to be quite honest, because I mean I know that I've been there myself, you know, and and especially with deer, because that's such a larger investment, right? I mean, I remember back when I was getting some of my deer done, you know, it was like 350 in Illinois. You know, now you're not getting out with any less than 750, 800 bucks each, you know, and so you know, sometimes, you know, it and it has become more of a trend. And I don't know if it's because of the cost of of taxidermy with deer, but you know, you you could do a um, you can do a um whatchamacallit? Amount a gear amount, a European, yeah. Yeah, you know, I if I would have thought I would have done that like when I was younger, I would have been against every rule I had because I swore like I've got a double split G2 buck that is a beautiful deer, and I did that too, and I was okay with it. I was like totally okay with it. I could have afforded to do it the other way, but point is it was another option, right? Yeah, I could do it. And I think it's so cool that you're like at least bringing that up. Um, that there are options out there, and and I bet you there is some DIY stuff that you can do.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:49

Oh percent, man. Yeah, there's all kinds of DIY stuff you can do with them as far as like you can decorate your house with them. Like, I've got this little bubble that my fiance put in the kitchen and I got a couple turkey feathers from a bird I shot, and I've got a mallard curl in there. And it just it looks really neat.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:07

Yeah. Yeah. That's cool.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:08

Yeah. Well, one of these days I'm definitely going to do one of those feather art things where people take like the rectangular deal and it's got like like the wings, and then it's got like like if it's a pentail, it's got you know, just the feathers kind of in order as if like the bird was flying, you know. Oh, yeah, yeah. I know it's super tedious, but it's definitely something I want to just DIY some point.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:28

Oh, yeah. Yeah, don't get me wrong. I mean, they look beautiful. I ain't doing it.

SPEAKER_05 1:06:33

Yeah, I don't like now. I I want to get back to the school.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:37

Let me just wrap up what I want to say about the quality thing. At the end of the day, what you're paying for is like what Tristan said is the is the far end, right? Where you're like, you're risking that that trophy doesn't look so good. All right. But then you got folks that like yourself take a lot of pride in that quality. You go to these shows, you see what the the the top uh taxidermists in the world are doing, and like you said, you're walking through there and thinking they're gonna blink at you, right? That's what they're striving for. So at the end of the day, that's what you're that's what you're paying for. Is you're paying for that bird to look as as beautiful as it could in its own right, you know, like alive.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:23

And my goal with every one of these is like is like my slogan, I I'm preserving memories. Yeah, I'm taking a I'm taking a bird, maybe it was your last hunt with your dog. Like I done a I done one for a kid. Uh his dog had died the day after opening day last season. And they had returned, they shot one Drake wood duck. And what I've done, and you can go on my Facebook and find it, um, it's a dead mount box, and it's got the Drake hanging down, and it's got the box of the ashes of the dog, and I actually framed out a little picture for them that was on the last picture picture that they took. And um, and stuff like that. I that those are my favorite mounts to do. Those those are my favorite mounts to do.

SPEAKER_05 1:08:06

That's super special.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:07

And my my fiance will tell you all the time that she look she loves my work and that I mean all my birds look awesome. But I mean, quite frankly, I think I can I can get a lot better. I mean, they look good, but I I know I can keep striving and striving for better. That's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:23

That's awesome, man. I just I will say this that you know, not that I've been around forever, but I have been around a long time, and I've seen a lot of mounts. I've had some, you know, those memories that I've wanted to cherish, you know, and there is definitely there's no um when you have a good mount of something, like I've got this one, and I'm I'll show you, tell you where I'm going with this. I've got this buck over here just real quick. That when I shot him, I snort wheezed him, he was bleeding from the face, his mouth was open, he had a big gash in his nose. When he came into me, he had his head tilted sideways. We've all seen like what a moose looks like right before it's getting ready to charge you. That wide of the eye, right? Yeah, that wide of the eye. I just told my taxidermist, I said, Man, I want to preserve what I saw that day, you know. And he did, and to this day, I walk by it, and it's been 15 years ago. I shot that deer, but I'll walk by it and just walk from side to side and just go, gosh damn. You know, I mean, that's what I paid for there. Is I just wanted to give a personal testament to what good quality does for you for years to come, I guess. Is that's where I'm going.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:38

Yeah, exactly. And that that's that that feeling that you got every time you see that deer is what I try to accomplish. Is try to every time you look at that bird, you you think right back and snap right back into when you harvested that bird, who you were with, what y'all were talking about. That's that's that's my goal. If I can if I can do that for everybody, I'll I'll I'll live a good life doing that.

SPEAKER_05 1:10:02

That's awesome, man. No, I uh was curious about the schooling, you know, you're talking about uh where you've gone and stuff like that. Uh I think that's uh just just super interesting. I mean, I would love to hear just a little bit about like where you've gone for schooling, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:20

Yeah, I mean, I see my first class was in South Georgia, it was in Nashville, and I went down there for a week. And prior to that, I'd been mountain ducks for six months to with little to actually no training, just straight up YouTube videos and little shorts, um, and just kind of winging it, not no pun intended. But um, but um, yeah, I went down there for a week. I got a little better. Um, and then I I found a mentor on Facebook named Brooke Beeson, and she invited me to come down there for a weekend, and she showed me free of charge. She let me stay at her place, and she just showed me what how she'd done it, and I'm forever grateful for her. And then I ended up taking a class in South Mississippi. I don't know if y'all know where Jerry Clower is from, uh, but uh Liberty, Mississippi. And um that's I went down there for a weekend and I got a lot better from there. And that was March, that was just past March. And now I'm about to go to another class. Um and at like I said, at the end of next month.

SPEAKER_05 1:11:37

Nice. Gotcha, gotcha.

Where To Find Seth & Closing

SPEAKER_04 1:11:39

Yeah, um, you want to hear something real quick, funny story about taxonomy. Honestly, when I got out of the Navy in '96, mom's like, what are you gonna do? And I said, Well, I'm gonna use my GI Bill, right? So I start looking, and dude, I called, I forgot if it's the university of Montana or whatever it was, but there's a you could actually take um college, you get college credits to go to a taxidermy school out in college. I was out in Montana, and you were there for like months observing animals and all kinds of stuff. And I told her, I said, I figured it out. She goes, What? I said, I'm gonna go to this tax earning school, I'm gonna be gone for several months. And she goes, Are you stupid or something? We got a baby on the way, you're not going anywhere. Yeah, and I never got into taxidermy, but but that was my that was my hope. I was hoping, but the point there is there's some sacrifice that comes into what you guys learn, and that just like any other trade, I guess, you know, and then uh good for you that you've been able to to like live a dream really and then make it your own, you know.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:47

It's been cool stuff. I I appreciate that. It's it's been a it's been a long road, and yeah, it's been it's been uh let's see, I started my business when I was, I think I was 20 and I'm 24 now.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:01

Nice.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:02

And um about to say I have I've worked uh having a full-time job and then having this as my side thing, and then just doing it when I can. Like I'll work from eight to five, and then I'll come in the shop around seven and work till 11 every night. And it's it's been a long, long grind, but it's it's been so worth it, and I wouldn't I wouldn't trade it for anything.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:25

That's awesome, man. Well, tell everybody, Seth, where they can find your stuff and get in touch with you, man.

SPEAKER_02 1:13:31

Yeah, for sure. Y'all can find me on Facebook, uh Nature's Woods Taxidermy. You can find me on Instagram, uh, TikTok. I don't do all the dances or nothing, but I do have some birds on there. And um, and yeah, if y'all and I also have a website, uh Nature's Woods Taxidermy.com. Um, yeah, and I'm located again in Dublin, Georgia. And if any of y'all need some birds, Melon, bring them on to me. I'll be more than happy to do them for you.

SPEAKER_05 1:13:56

Awesome, man. I appreciate it. And I've actually been to Dublin, Georgia. There's a uh I used to do packaging sales, and there's a dog food plant called Sunshine Mills by by uh by DC. I don't know if you know where that is. Oh, yeah. I know where that's out.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:10

Yeah, well, I'll tell you what I got a rossi, it's gonna be coming to you. So so get your uh warp build-up tools, yes, there, so will.

SPEAKER_05 1:14:18

All righty, man. Well, thank you.

SPEAKER_04 1:14:20

Thank you, Seth. Appreciate you, man. Yes, sir. Y'all have a good night.